<p>S2 has 4 schools that accept the common app unlike S1 who several years only had only one common app school on his list. I have a question about the recommendations. I'm assuming you print the form and give it to the teacher or teachers. Can the teacher simply "copy" the recommendation, sign the copy and insert a copy into each envelope which gets sent to the college sealed with the transcript/profile info from the guidance office? I woud think the teachers don't have to write a separate recommendation for each school. I would think the same for the GC recommendation, print out a hard copy, have son deliver to the guidance office, they fill it out once, copy it, sign it and send it to the individual schools? Am I thinking straight? To do otherwise (separate originals for each school) seems insane since the premise of the word common in common app is do it once for multiple schools.</p>
<p>The teachers and counselors have the option of either sending the form in or submitting it electronically. Through the common app process, you provide the email addresses for your recommendations and they are notified via email of the request and receive the forms. Of course, you should talk with them in advance before they get the email and confirm that they will provide a recommendation. All of my D’s teachers submitted their recommendations electronically. Her guidance counselor submitted hard copy. When the teacher submits electronically, you are notified through your common app site that they have been sent and received. Unfortunately, when your teacher/gc sends hard copy, you do not get notified when it has been completed.</p>
<p>yes you can copy, or ask the recommending teacher/gc to make several copies of, the completed form. Most teachers know to give several copies of the actual letter to the student/guidance office so that there will be enough for each school. </p>
<p>There are varying degress of openness depending on the school. At our high school everything is returned to the kids to send, sometimes in sealed envelopes sometimes not but I know at some schools once the student has give the form to the gc/teacher they aren’t permitted to see it again and nothing passes back into their hands.</p>
<p>Many schools (ours included) don’t even require that form. The teacher writes the recommendation and uses the school’s generic form, and the school copies it and mails it to each school with a transcript. The student doesn’t have to fill in multiple forms that way. I know that most schools in our area are doing this the same way. Colleges do not require their own form.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard of too many teachers who are willing to have their e-mail shared with a bunch of colleges. That would also require them to cut and paste recommendations what could be a dozen times for each kid…a lot of organizing and work for a teacher who has classes to teach. I know in our school’s case, the teachers prefer that the busy work be done by the high school office.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, S2 and I are sitting down this afternoon to go through the common app and see what it entails. Several years ago the teachers just handed my oldest son his recommendation not even sealed and he gave them to the guidance office to copy and include in the packets. That seems quite straightforward to me and also keeps the teachers’ e-mail cleaner and makes for only one mailing to each college that includes everything and less chance for missing pieces. For my oldest, he provided the guidance office with stamped, addressed envelopes - they copied, stuffed and mailed. Sometimes the “old” way is not a “bad way.” I wonder if all those colleges end up printing off all that on-line “stuff” for all those students and putting together a hard copy folder anyway in which case might as well send hard copies.</p>